Monster
by Ciela Night
Summary: It is a week after the attack on the school. Bobby Drake phoned his parents and didn't exactly get the response he was looking for. Finished. Please R
1. Prologue

            _He always considered himself one of the lucky ones. One of the few at the school who had never encountered the violent prejudice that most humans seemed to feel against mutants. He had always been able to pass as human, even with his parents. But all that illusion had come crashing down when he taken Rogue, John and Logan to his house in Boston..._

_He knew that things were going wrong almost as soon as he got home. When he broke the news to his parents that he was a mutant they didn't seem to understand. His mother kept asking if he had ever considered not being a mutant. Like he had had a choice. His father had always been so proud that he was going to a school for the gifted, now he realized that the only way his son was gifted was in a way that to him was a monstrosity. And Ronnie. His reaction had been the one that Bobby had feared the most, and after the way that Ronnie had looked at him made him realize there would be no reprieve. _

_It only got worse afterwards, Bobby knew the moment after everything went quiet.  There had been a dead silence and Bobby knew exactly when the cops burst in, who had ratted them out. Ronnie. He didn't want to believe it but his parents had still been in the living room and Bobby had seen the fear and disgust in Ronnie's eyes when he revealed his 'power'._

_At the end of it, when the jet had come down to save them, Bobby had looked back once, to see his parents. They were standing in Ronnie's room on the second floor, arms around Ronnie as if protecting him from the big, bad, mutants of whom Bobby was now apparently one. He wasn't part of  that family anymore , as his father had made so abundantly clear when he had phoned home earlier this day…_

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	2. Insomnia

 Disclaimer: I forgot to add a disclaimer to the prologue page, oops! Oh well this one is for the whole story ok? Please don't sue me! I don't in any way own any of the X- Men or their world, I'm just playing with them! Although I wouldn't mind the number of a certain Iceman…heehee

Thanx for all the reviews I've gotten so far. My first story and I got reviews. Yeah! All right, now back to the story…

            Bobby shifted in his bed, a sliver of moonlight flashing in his eyes. He sighed and decided he had had enough of relieving the memories of the past week. He swung his feet down onto the cold floor of his room and stood up. He needed someplace to go, to get his mind off of things. And the room felt so empty. It was the room he had shared with John since he had first came to the school. But now John was gone, presumably with Magneto. Whether John had gone willingly or had been kidnapped was anyone's guess but Bobby suspected that it was the former. John had always had a part of darkness in him and his ideals had always leaned more to Magneto's side than to the Professor's. Still, John was his friend and Bobby hoped that wherever John was, he was safe.

            Bobby opened the door of this room and peered out, seeing no one he ventured out and pulled the door shut, letting it 'snick' gently as he let go of the handle. Normally he wouldn't care who knew he was still up. There were several fellow insomniacs among the staff and students who he saw quite regularly during his forays to the kitchen. But the school had only opened only two days ago and there were patrols of teachers who had been roaming the halls the night before. They told students who were still traumatized from the attack not to worry, that there was no danger from the noises they heard, that they were safe and to go back to bed. He didn't want to go back to bed, he had tried that and it hadn't worked. What he needed now was ice-cream. 

             As he walked down to the kitchen Bobby noticed signs of the attack that were still around, the door to the library busted off its handle, several panes of glass broken and through which the wind was whistling eerily. There was also a different feeling about the school. There was fear. That was to be expected but there was also sadness. Jean's death had affected Scott the most; he was functioning like a sleepwalker, stumbling through every day tasks. He wouldn't look at anyone and whenever someone spoke to him he'd reply in a low monotone. Logan wasn't much better, snapping at anyone who came too close to him and all the students, Bobby included, missed Jean's warm smile and calm competence. It would take a while for Jean's ghost to fade, if it ever did, Bobby mused as he reached the kitchen.

            He went to the school's huge freezer and pulled out a tub of ice cream. "Rocky Road," he read out loud. "Good enough, I guess." He grabbed a spoon, pulled the cover off and started eating. He ate spoonful after spoonful, letting the icy smoothness slide down his throat. As he ate his mind flashed to other things, in particular to the one scene he didn't want to think about right now, that he didn't want to relive. But he kept flashing to the phone call earlier in the day. He tried to think of other things but that memory kept invading his mind, forcing him to relive every moment…


	3. Phone Call

              All right everyone, now on to chapter 2. This is where you all find out what happened in the phone call Bobby made to his parents.

_He had wanted to tell his parents that he was safe and at the school, he hadn't spoken to them since he had had to be rescued from his own home on the jet. Bobby thought that his parents would have been worried, that they would have been glad he phoned. He had phoned from the Professor's office, the Professor giving him a sympathetic smile before quietly wheeling out. Bobby felt nervous all of a sudden as he dialed his home number. Ringing once, twice…"Hello?" It was Ronnie._

_"Hey Ronnie, it's Bobby, is Mom or -."_

_  "Mom, it's the mutant," said Ronnie, clearly not trying to cover the speaker._

_            Bobby felt his throat tighten up. His own brother wouldn't call him by name. He heard the phone being handed over to a different person._

_"Bobby?" he heard his mother say tentatively._

_"Mom," he didn't get any farther. His mom burst into tears. "Mom, Mom, it's okay. I'm safe, not a scratch on me. You don't have to cry…"_

_"Bobby, listen to me," his mother said between sobs. "You-, you've got to stop doing this mutant stuff, Bobby, it's dangerous, those people, mutants, they're dangerous. That incident on Saturday, oh, I don't know Bobby, we all could've been hurt, killed even! You've got to stop doing this!"_

_            Bobby couldn't believe what he was hearing._

_"Mom, I can't stop being a mutant, it's not something you can turn on or off, it's who I am! And the things about mutants being dangerous, I will admit that maybe John went a little overboard but the whole thing wouldn't have happened if Ronnie hadn't called the police!"_

_            His mother wasn't listening. _

_"Bobby, your father and I-,"_

_"Let me speak to him," his father's voice was heard in the background. There was a click and Bobby's father came on the phone. "Robert, are you there?" his father's voice was chilly and formal._

_"Yeah, I'm still here, Dad."_

_"Where are you now?"_

_"I'm back at the school, I probably could've come home seeing as break starts tomorrow but I didn't want to put you guys in any danger."_

_"Hmm, well in my opinion you have already put this family in danger when you brought your friends home. Did you know that the total cost for all the damage was over 300,000 dollars and your 'friend' put 5 police officers in the hospital, two with 3rd degree burns."_

_            Bobby swallowed, he hadn't thought that the police officers had been that hurt. He remained silent. His father continued. _

_"Your mother, or Ronnie, or I could've been hurt in that way or worse. I can't tolerate that. I won't tolerate that. Do you understand me Robert?"_

_"Yes, sir," Bobby said quietly . _

_"Good. Now if you want to be part of this family you can't be abnormal, you can't have any monstrosities… you can't be a mutant."_

_            Bobby winced. "Dad, I can't stop being a mutant."_

_            Silence._

_"Very well."__ A pause, "then I suggest you find a place for yourself to stay for the break, and start to look about finding a place to live for the summer. You can't live at our home. You are not part of this family."_

_"Dad, please. I- you can't do this! I'm your son!" Bobby's voice cracked. He felt tears prickling at the back of his eyes._

_"You are a monster! I don't have a son who is a mutant!" his father thundered, then more quietly. "If you come near me or my family or try to contact us, I'll call the police."_

_"Dad!"__ Bobby's cry was anguished._

_"Goodbye Robert." _

_There was a click, then a dial tone. Bobby stared at the phone through a haze of tears. In his wildest dreams he had never imagined a day where his family would disown him. He scrubbed at his tears angrily and left the office, not looking to see if the Professor was still around. He hid in one of the study rooms until suppertime, avoiding all his friends. He ate a quick supper, not talking to anyone. Later he went to his room and locked the door. Bobby wasn't-_

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"Bobby, there you are! I was looking for you this afternoon. Where were you?" 

            It was Rogue.

To be continued… 


	4. Rogue

Thanx for all the reviews I've gotten so far. Cyrus-Oz, part of Rogue's speech comes from your first review. I hope you like it.

"Bobby, there you are! I was looking for you this afternoon. Where were you?"

Bobby jerked, his spoon flying in the air, ice cream going all over the countertop. It was Rogue. He had been in so deep a thought that he hadn't noticed her entering. 

"Rogue, I uh, I was," said Bobby, fumbling for words. He was trying not to look at her, trying to prevent Rogue from seeing the tears glistening in his eyes. 

"Bobby, is there something wrong? Why won't you look at me? Bobby?" Rogue touched his shoulder gently, the fabric from her glove making Bobby's skin prickle with goosebumps. He shrugged away from her touch. 

Still not looking at her he said roughly, "It's nothing really. I just, uh, I wasn't feeling well earlier. I came down to have some ice cream like I normally do." 

Rogue sat down on the chair beside Bobby. "That isn't why you're upset. Come on Bobby; please tell me what's wrong." 

Bobby took a deep breath and then looked up at Rogue so she could see his face. He began haltingly to speak. "I went to phone my parents this morning, to let them know that I was okay. My brother Ronnie-, you remember him?"

Rogue nodded gravely, "Yeah, I remember, he's the one who called the cops, right?"

Bobby continued, "Yeah, well, he answered the phone, he wouldn't refer to me by name. He told my mom, 'the mutant's on the phone.' Then my mom came on and she started to get hysterical, telling me to stop being a mutant, that it was dangerous for the family." Bobby stopped and looked down at his hands; he noticed tiny icicles forming on the spoon. He looked back up and stared directly into Rogue's brown eyes, in contrast with his icy blue. "Finally, my dad came on- and he said, he said, that if I couldn't, that I wasn't a part of the family if I was a mutant. He told me to look for a place to stay for the summer because I can't go back home. He said that if I tried to contact him, or Mom, or Ronnie, they'd call the police."

Rogue's eyes were glistening as well now. "Bobby, I'm so sorry-."

But he wasn't done yet; he gazed past Rogue's face as he whispered the last part. "My dad said I wasn't his son. He said that I was a monster."

Rogue opened her mouth, and then shut it, she appeared to be thinking hard. She jumped up. "The nerve of that man! Calling you a monster when he himself is one!"

Bobby stared up at Rogue bewildered. "What do you mean Rogue, he's my dad!"

"He may be your father but as you said yourself, he doesn't consider you his son. And that, no offence Bobby, is probably for the best. It's people like your father and Ronnie who are the real monsters, not letting mutants live their lives in peace, trying to destroy us with their hate. You can do better than that Bobby."

Then she softened, "All the same, it must be hard for you. Your own family- I'm sorry Bobby."

Bobby nodded mutely, Rogue reached over from her seat to hug him. He stiffened, then relaxed, leaning his head against her shoulder, finally letting all the tears he'd kept inside spill out silently. They sat like that for a few minutes, and then Rogue said quietly, "I still can't believe he called you a monster, if you're one, what does make me? Do you think that I'm a monster Bobby?" 

  Bobby leaned backed from Rogue's hug so he could see her face. "No, of course you're not, you're beautiful Rogue, no one would ever call you a monster." He smiled slightly. Rogue smiled back, and leaned forward to kiss him gently on the lips, then pulled back after a couple of seconds. "You're not one either, Bobby."

                                                                                                                    The End

And so ends my first fanfic story, I hoped you all enjoyed it. Thank you for all the reviews and if you haven't reviewed please do so, it would be greatly appreciated. I need to know what I'm doing right and what I need to improve on. Anyway, until next time! ;)


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